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Mousse awoke to silence. The mummy was in China dealing with some village business; her absence was expected. Shampoo had gone out just before closing to deliver a take-out order. She should have been back. The silence filling the Nekohauten mocked Mousse. Shampoo, the girl he loved, should have been back… unless she decided to sneak into Ranma Saotome's bedroom again.
"Oh Shampoo, why can't you see that I'm the one who loves you?" Mousse sighed hopelessly and reached for his glasses. He tried to cheer himself up with the knowledge that he and Shampoo would be spending the whole day working together at the restaurant.
The Chinese boy gathered his bathing supplies and headed to the bathhouse on the next block. He stashed his glasses in a cubical, found an empty stool, lathered up then dumped a bucket of cool water over his head. Mousse flapped his wings to get rid of excess water then used his beak to re-oil and smooth his ruffled feathers. Once he was done grooming the duck flew across the bathhouse. He landed in the warm pool and transformed back into a fit, seventeen-year old boy with long hair.
For the most part the other patrons didn't look twice. The bathhouse was not only the closest one to the Nekohauten, it was also just four blocks from the Tendo Dojo. Mousse's morning routine was down right tame when compared to the antics that went on when Ranma tried to keep Happosai from harassing the women bathers.
Mousse collected his belongings and went back to find the Nekohauten dark and empty. The myopic boy looked resigned as he went to work getting the restaurant ready for business. Opening time came and went without Shampoo. Dishes piled up in the sink as Mousse tried to keep up with the incoming orders. He stuck it out through the lunch rush then closed up shop and went to look for his beloved; his glasses were perched on top of his head.
Mousse spotted a vaguely familiar blur and hope overrode common sense. "My dearest Shampoo, I was so worried!"
He had a split second to realize that the chest under his cheek was much to firm and flat to belong to Shampoo then he was flying backward. Mousse impacted the wall with enough force to crack bricks. After a few seconds the hidden weapons master pried himself out of the wall and slumped to the ground. When he landed it jarred his glasses; they slid off the top of his head and landed on his nose.
Ranma stood across the street, his fists were clenched, he was breathing hard and his battle aura was blazing around him. "I am not Shampoo." He continued to himself. "Shampoo grabs me like that. You grab Shampoo; you thought I was Shampoo. I wouldn't kill Shampoo for glomping me, I shouldn't kill you."
"Ranma?" Akane asked. She put a hand on his arm. Ranma jumped.
"Saotome, how dare you distract me when Shampoo is missing."
"Missing? When?" Ranma's voice gained the chill calm of the soul of ice.
"Last night, she went out to make a delivery. She never came back."
"Where was she going?" Ranma demanded.
"Oh, I didn't think of that." Mousse dug a slip of paper out of his loose sleeves. "The delivery was to the Cat Temple."
"Airen will come for Shampoo." The lavender haired beauty pouted.
"Why don't you want to be my bride?" Her giant, feline capturer sounded hurt.
"Is too dull waiting for rescue, must be why violent girl is always in bad mood. Shampoo call Ranma, tell him rescue needed."
"No!"
Shampoo stalked across the temple to confront her kidnapper, her eyes glittered angrily. "Shampoo call!"
"Humph! It won't do any good. Go ahead and call, see if I care."
Voices drifted through the open door. "I thought this place was abandoned." Akane said.
"Why does it have to be c-cats?"
"Airen!" Shampoo rushed past her kidnapper, her arms spread wide to greet her beloved groom to be. She trampled Mousse on her way to Ranma. "Ranma come save Shampoo from too, too tragic fate!"
"Shampoo will loose her human form if she leaves my side." The ghost cat, Mao Mo Lin laughed triumphantly. "She has no choice but to become my bride!"
Ranma's eyes glowed with terror and fury.
"Unless…" Shampoo began.
"Let her go." The ice in Ranma's voice cracked.
"She will be my bride!" The ghost cat insisted petulantly.
"I won't let you rape her." Ranma's voice dropped into a low growl. As he stalked toward the ghost cat his posture shifted. His movements became more fluid, less human. He bared his teeth in an angry snarl.
"All Shampoo needs is kiss from true love!" Shampoo interjected helpfully.
"I'll kiss you my beloved Shampoo!" Mousse declared.
Shampoo booted her myopic suitor in the face. "Kiss from one Shampoo loves." The girl clarified disdainfully.
"Grrrrow!!" The low snarl drew all eyes to Ranma. He slashed at the ghost cat with his ki-claws. Where they intersected the cat's form empyreal wisps of the cat's substance dissipated.
Akane, Mousse and Shampoo watched with stunned expressions as Ranma brutally tore through Mao Mo Lin's defenses and scattered his substance to the wind. Only seconds later the giant bell that hung from Mao Mo Lin's collar fell to the ground as the neck that supported it was rent asunder. Ranma pounced on the bell and ripped it to pieces.
"Saotome… killed him." Mousse said, his voice full of disbelief.
"Is ghost cat, is already dead." Shampoo argued. "Airen save Shampoo; is good." The Amazon girl smiled and took a tentative step toward Ranma. He drew back in response. His back arched and he raised one hand to emphasize his warning hiss.
Akane gasped as Ranma eyed the two Amazons with hostile intent. She ran to the courtyard fountain and sent a spray of water toward them. "Get out of here, now!"
Mousse spread his wings and took to the skies. Shampoo lost herself in the crowd of cats milling around the temple. Then the lavender Siamese settled in to watch.
Akane crouched in front of Ranma and held out her hand. "Here kitty, kitty." She called tentatively.
Ranma came to her with the fluid grace of a cat but instead of allowing her to pet him he nudged her into the temple.
Uncertainly Akane settled herself into a chair. Ranma prowled the outskirts of the room. He glared out into the courtyard as he waited for an attack.
Nabiki assessed her escort out of the corner of her eye. With her breasts bound and her hair pulled back Ukyo Kuonji made a very pretty young man, but the oversized spatula slung across her back warned people against mistaking 'his' slender build for a lack of fighting ability.
After Ranma's display over Kodachi Nabiki wondered if he expected other people to mistake Ukyo for a guy or if he still subconsciously thought of his old pal Ucchan as a boy. It was a little bit sexist, but considering what she believed had happened it wasn't totally unjustified, Ranma probably wouldn't have been a target in his male form.
As the pair made their way off school grounds Tanaka intercepted them, he held a folder nervously in his hands. "After this we're even." He said as he planted himself in front of Nabiki. "I mean he's my dad, but I'm still stealing a police officers notes."
"Not stealing, photocopying." Nabiki said. "I told you to put the notes back."
"I did what you told me, it's still a big deal."
"Alright, consider your slate clean." Nabiki said as she held out her hand. Tanaka handed her the folder and hurried away. Ukyo watched curiously then with concern as Nabiki skimmed through the folder. Her face paled as she read.
What the notes said wasn't exactly a surprise. All they did was confirm her suspicions, still seeing it in black and white left her feeling queasy. Certain phrases seemed to leap out at her: Strands of red hair found caught in a ring. Signs of recent sexual activity discovered on one body. Regurgitated blood and alcohol found several meters from the bodies. Dismembered. Four parallel blades of near perfect sharpness.
Knowledge was power, Nabiki thought, but you never knew enough. Now she knew what happened, she still didn't know what to do. Nabiki walked along side Ukyo, lost in her thoughts. She tried to make a plan, all the while feeling completely out of her depth.
"It's been over a week since Ranchan or Akane came to school." Ukyo commented. "Mind telling me what's going on?"
"The whole school is talking." Nabiki said distractedly. "Ranma went cat on Kuno. Akane's the only one who can control him when he's like that."
"I heard." Ukyo replied. "I even dug up the old rumors about Genma putting my Ranchan through some idiot training that makes him so scared of cats that he goes crazy around them. What I want to know is what happened to make Ranma as scared of Kuno as he is of cats."
Nabiki stopped dead in her tracks. "Ch! I can't believe I didn't put it together. Ranma was sort of okay until he got splashed, then Kuno goes into his whole Pig-tailed Girl routine. 'When his fear reaches its peak he yowls.' It was never the cats that triggered the Nekoken; it was fear. Uncle Saotome's idiot technique made Ranma ailuphobic, but all it takes is terror, not cats."
"What the hell did Kuno do?" Ukyo demanded.
"Kuno-baby?" Nabiki said defensively. "He just picked the wrong day to express his affections. He may have been the idiot who came up with 'defeat Akane in combat to date her' but he always held back. He's still waiting for Akane to let him win. He'd never do anything like that to anyone, especially not to Akane or his Pig-tailed Girl. I'd never sell pictures of Akane or Ranma to him if he were like that."
"Then who?" Ukyo reached back to grasp her primary weapon.
Nabiki snorted. "Ranma took care of that. Vengeance has been served. If you want to be useful tell me how to fix him."
Ukyo's hand fell away from her spatula. Her eyes dropped to the pavement.
"Yeah, well let me know if you think of anything." Nabiki scaled back the sarcasm in her voice. "Seriously, if you think of anything let me know, I'm at a loss."
The pair continued on in disheartened silence until reaching the Tendo's street.
Akane appeared at the other end of the street. Ranma stalked along beside her on all fours. He shot Nabiki and Ukyo a warning glare then apparently recognized them and relaxed marginally.
"He went cat again?" Nabiki asked rhetorically. "What set him off this time?"
Ukyo studied her best friend and fiancé with a wary sort of curiosity. She took a tentative step toward the feline-minded boy and held out her hand as if he were a real cat.
Akane grimaced. "Mao Mo Lin."
"The normal stuff." Nabiki summed up with relief.
Ranma sniffed at Ukyo's fingers tentatively then allowed the okonomiyaki chef to awkwardly pat his head.
"Sure, normal stuff, only he's been like that for hours." Akane complained.
Nabiki thought about that for a few minutes.
Ukyo's comfort level had grown. She progressed from uncertain pats to rubbing Ranma's back comfortingly. Ranma responded by pressing closer to her. Ukyo hugged him tightly and whispered in his ear. "I'm sorry you… got hurt."
Akane twitched jealously as Neko-Ranma relaxed bonelessly against Ukyo. "Chill, he didn't seek her out." Nabiki hissed. "You're still the one he chooses and I told you this isn't a good time for your temper."
Nabiki stepped away from Akane, in a normal voice she said. "I suppose if other fears can send him into the Nekoken it makes sense that it's harder to bring him out of it if he's already severely stressed. Akane, what finally got him back to normal after the deal with Kuno?"
"That time was different, he acted so hurt. I just held her until she fell asleep." Akane said. "This time, I don't know. Ranma was… I thought he was going to go after Shampoo and Mousse once he was done with Mao Mo Lin. Nabiki, you can't kill a ghost, right?"
"Since you have to be dead to be a ghost it would seem redundant." Nabiki replied. "Ranma did some damage I take it."
Akane nodded.
"Ranchan purrs?" Ukyo commented. The other two didn't really pay attention. "I didn't think humans could purr."
"So he's more secure and more aggressive in his male form regardless of whether he's thinking human or cat." Nabiki said to herself.
"He was pretty aggressive with Kuno." Akane remarked.
"Aggressive or desperate to get away?" Nabiki asked. "Did he go hide in your arms after one swipe at the Ghost Cat?"
"Ranma kept attacking until there was nothing left of Mao Mo Lin." Akane said with a shiver.
"K'so." Nabiki said. Ukyo and Akane gave her a questioning look. "You haven't noticed? Lately Ranma refers to his girl-form as either unreal or as a separate person. He practically goes into shock if his curse gets activated. As a guy he's overly protective and volatile. As a girl he's terrified. Kuno and Gosunkugi are suddenly at the top of his threat list; Ukyo, if you see Tsubasa you should probably tell him to run. The same pattern holds true when he's neko. Akane, do you remember if any of those books Kasumi borrowed from Tofu dealt with psychology? Ch, I wish Dr. Tofu were still around."
"Umm, guys? I think he's asleep?" Ukyo said.
"Well both of you are martial artists, I'm sure you can figure out how to get him inside." Nabiki said as she turned into the front gate. "I'm going to talk to Kasumi, grasping at straws and all that."
